Life-changing events over which I may or may not have had some control: being born; having children; taking over the editorship of Cognition...
All three are ongoing projects. The latter has caused me most anguish in the past 9 months. A continuing wave of submissions meant that more submissions were coming in than I was able to send out for review, and more papers required decisions each week (to accept/reject/revise) than I was able to deal with. So although I was processing around 20 papers a week, it still wasn't enough. But the good news is that since Xmas, I've managed 30 papers a week, and the queues are now clear. A milestone by any measure. So I celebrated by taking yesterday (Saturday) off and not doing any work. How good is that?
Not so good... Why should I feel guilty that I took ONE day off (today, Sunday, I worked again). What kind of life is it that we are such slaves to our work?
Big week coming up: Dentist (fixing a cracked tooth), Ophthalmologist (fixing my bursting eyeballs), Heating Engineer (fixing our thermostats). The bursting eyeball thing is probably an exaggeration. My head's likely to burst long before any of my other vital, or not so vital, organs go the same way. But hopefully nothing will burst before I fulfill all my other obligations that are still on my way-too-long To Do list.
So... now that Cognition is under control, and my eyes, teeth, and heating will hopefully bend to my will also, what else is there to do? Aside from work, that is. Even YouTube has lost its brief attraction (not that it was attractive for more than a whole 5 minutes) now that I believe I have found the genuinely funniest thing on it, ever. It must be no coincidence that the film-maker who made this is from Argentina.
Am stuck for something witty and poignant with which to end this post. I'll have to save it till next time.
